Contact:
  • Archaeology
  • Address:
    Planning Services, Trimbridge House, Trim Street, Bath, BA1 2DP
  • E-mail:
    archaeology@bathnes.gov.uk
  • Telephone:
    01225-477651
  • Fax:
    01225-477641
  • Minicom:
     01225-477535
  • Page Updated:
    22/11/2008
  • Author:
    Heritage & Environment Group
A to Z Index
Other Websites
Council for British Archaeology
 Institute of Field Archaeology
 Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers (ALGAO)
 English Heritage

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Archaeology and Planning

Welcome

Archaeological evaluation trench

You have reached the pages dealing specifically with archaeology, planning and development.  If you need to look at the Sites and Monuments Record or find out about other aspects of archaeology in the area please follow the links in the left column.  

The threat to archaeology and the historic environment

Archaeological evidence is unique. It can be the only source of information about large parts of a region or district’s past.  It is a finite, non-renewable and in many cases a very fragile resource, vulnerable to even slight changes to the site or structure in some circumstances.  Archaeological sites and the information they contain cannot be restored once they have been destroyed.  The government has recognised this through publication of Planning Policy Guidance Note 16, Archaeology and Planning which provides guidance on the treatment of archaeological remains in the planning process.

44% of all land known to contain archaeological remains had been destroyed before 1995, 9% through wholesale destruction of monuments, 35% through piecemeal losses (Monuments At Risk Survey of England 1995 - Bournemouth University and English Heritage).

Archaeological remains can be buried stone building foundations and intact floors surviving in pasture which has never been ploughed.  Buried remains can also be less obvious.  Slight colour changes in the subsoil or dark circular areas of soil in exposed bedrock can be all that remains of prehistoric houses.  An abandoned and ruinous farm building may date back to the medieval period.  Many of the walls and hedges that add so much to the quality of the rural environment in the region can have their origins in the late medieval period and in some cases much earlier.

Five hazards - development and urbanisation, demolition and building alterations, mineral extraction and industry, agriculture, and road-building account for nearly 80% of all wholesale destruction (of archaeological monuments (Monuments At Risk Survey of England 1995 - Bournemouth University and English Heritage).

 

General planning advice

We have prepared Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) on general archaeological issues and planning in Bath & North East Somerset. This SPG deals with the steps that you should follow if you are wishing to develop in an archaeologically sensitive area.  We hope that this guidance will answer most of your questions.  What it will not do is explain the location of all archaeology in the District.  For this you will need to consult the Sites and Monuments Record.

Archaeology in Bath and North East Somerset:  Supplementary Planning Guidance.  Web pages

The full PDF version can be found below.

Planning advice in the City of Bath

Supplementary Planning Guidance on archaeology in the City of Bath has been adopted and published.  This document contains a series of maps outlining the archaeological character of Bath through descriptions of 37 Character Zones.  There is also useful information on development control proceedures and archaeological methods.  The document can be read as a series of text based web pages with map links or can be read and downloaded as PDF documents.

Bath City SPG web pages

The PDF files are available below.

Archaeological contractors

We are not in a position to recommend particular archaeological contractors for work commissioned in connection with development or development related activities.  The Institute of Field Archaeologists (IFA) maintains a list of individual members and Registered Archaeological Organisations (RAO's), details of which can be found at the IFA's web site. 

Community involvement

The Council for British Archaeology has prepared some useful documents on Local Development Plans and the development control process aimed at non-professionals.  This fact sheet series has been written to help local groups and individuals interested in the conservation of their local archaeological and historic heritage to understand and become more involved in planning in their area.

This series is published under the title of; Planning for Archaeology and the Historic Environment: Having your say